A letter to my daughter Ellie as she approaches her teen years

You may remember around this time last year I wrote a letter to Harry as he approached his teen years, well crazily it’s already time to write one for Ellie. So Ellie this time it’s for you!

Dear my beautiful Jel

I can’t believe how fast it has come round to the time to write your letter, I’m not ready! Can you not just stay my little girl for a tiny bit longer? I guess now is the time I share my mummy words of wisdom with you as you transform from a child into a young lady.

You are incredibly beautiful and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise

As you make your way through life people are going to do their very best to put you down. Unfortunately throughout life not everybody is going to like you. Some people will be jealous of you and that isn’t surprising, you are extremely intelligent and very beautiful. Not only that but you have something many people lack , integrity. I am so proud of the way you handle yourself in difficult situations and how you keep yourself at a mutual level, refusing to take sides. I truly hope that you keep this about you as you grow older.

There will be times where you will doubt yourself and who you are. This is all part of growing up. You will learn about yourself and the kind of person you would like to be. What is most important is that you remain true to yourself. If people don’t like you then the problem lies with them and not you.

Hormones are on their way and they actually suck

I am not going to lie hormones actually suck, they made you moody, spotty, sulky. They give you aches and pains and will turn you into a raging monster at times. Just remember that when you’re screaming ” I hate you” at the top of your voice and slamming your door that I was a grumpy , miserable hormonal teenage girl once too and my voice is louder than yours 😉 Oh and don’t think that I don’t know that you’re sticking your fingers up behind your door either!

Boys smell!

Boys smell, you are banned from boys until you are at least 45 , they smell, they’re ugly and you don’t need them .. got that?

No seriously , If and when you are ready to get a boyfriend I want you to remember that you are in control of what and when you are ready to do anything, from holding hands to anything else. You are able to say no to absolutely anything you want to and if you need a helpful ear I will be right there ready to listen ( and to be nosey) but please don’t ever put a boy before making sure that you concentrate on getting a good education and career. If they’re worth it and they’re worth your time they will be happy to put what you need first and wait for you to do what you need to do.

I am so proud of you

You are growing into such an incredible , strong , well-mannered , beautiful young lady. The other day when you wrote your Mother’s day message to me you described me as your best friend and I genuinely mean this when I say, those words meant the world to me. I will be more than happy if in a few years time you are still saying it.

You’re about to go through some pretty big changes both in body and mind and I would be lying if I said it was going to be easy because it isn’t but I am very confident that you will handle it the way you handle everything with complete dignity.

I want you to promise me that if you find yourself in any situations that you feel you can’t handle you will come to me and you will talk to me about them. As you get older you will meet some people and situations that maybe you never thought you would come across.

You will be offered things and tempted with things that may seem like a fantastic or cool idea at the time but I can assure you that 99% of the time the idea will be pretty stupid.

I can also tell you there isn’t much this old mum hasn’t seen or done herself so this means there isn’t very much that you will be able to get passed me!

I know you aren’t overly happy about the fact you have to grow up, you’ve already asked me if we can stop it and my god I wish we could. It only seems like yesterday you were my naughty little toddler who was driving me insane, kicking and punching me but despite how sad I am that you’re growing up I’m equally excited to see what you do with your life. What you will become and what you will achieve.

I have absolutely no doubt that you have big things in store for you if you continue the way you are going.